Container closure



Jan. 15, Q W BOOTH CONTAINER CLOSURE v 3 Sheets-Sheet l Jan. 15, 1935.

G. W, BOOTH CONTAINER CLOSURE origin-a1 Filed sept. 1e, 1932 5sheets-sheet 2 Jan. 15, 1935. G. w. BOOTH Re.v 19,422

CONTAINER GLOSURE Original Filed Sept. 16. 1932 3 Shqets-Sheet 3 Ressued`Ilan. .15, 19,35 l l Re,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTAINER CLOSURE George W. Booth,Baltimore, Md., sssig'nor to Crown Cork & Seal Company, Inc., Baltimore,Md., a corporation of New York original No. 1,956,212, dated April 24,1934, sex-iai No. 633,515, September 16, 1932. Application for reissueOctober 5, 19,34, Serial No. 747,108

1 claim. (ci. zzo-51) The present invention relates to container punchstamping machine and associated conclosures of the type designed to befed from a veyor; stack and has to do with the form of the closureFigure 2 is a plan view of cutting and form'- land a method forproducing and stacking the ing dies forming parts of the punching mecha-5 closures so that adequate spacing of the closures nism; 5

`in-the stack is afforded. Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Fig-In order that the closures may be .surely sepure 2; arated and fed, itis desirable that they be stacked Figure 4 is a plan View of a closuredisc proin uniformly spaced relation and such spacing duced by theillustrated punching mechanism; l is particularly necessary where theclosures are Figure 5 is a section on line 5-5 of Figure 4; 10 cupped soas to tend to nest together tightly. Figure 6 is a greatly enlargedsection on line While the present invention is of general applica- 6-6of Figure 4. tion, I shall describe it with particular reference Figure'1 shows in section portions of two to a type of closure shown in mycopending apstacked discs; l plication Serial No. 553,464, filed July2'?, 1931, Figure 8 is an elevation partly in section of the l5 in theUnited States Patent Oillce. In the ap- Conveyor mechanism shown inFigure l and its plication referred to, I have shown a closure in.associated stacking mechanism; the form oi a substantially flat disccomprising Figure 9 iS a SectiOn 0n line 9-9 0f Figure 8; metal andnbrous iaminations adhesively united, Figure 10 shows in plan the bed 0fthe punch- 2o the metal lamination being ductile so that the ingmechanism. the conveyor being Shown in ele- 20 marginal portion of thedisc may be ironed and vation; and drawn over a container bead to take anatural Figure 11 ShOWSin axial CIOSS Section 8 package locking crimptherebeneath. As a desirable fea- 0f the new closure discs. ture in thestamping of such closure discs, the .Refenmg t0 the drawings andparticularly t0 diameter of the disc is somewhat reduced in the Figures1 t0 3 and lof reference numeral 12 des' 25 stamping operation byslightly off-setting the ignates the inclined Ped 0f Suitable stampingap' central from the marginal portion thereof so params the bed havmgarfangeq therein the two that a shoulder is presented at the inner edgeof rows of dies a to e and a to e Figure 10' the the marginal portion. Ihave found that Where a dehor (llefow bengtis'lggered relative to thoselamination of fibrous material is used as the sealgud g (acdAs cse anySOT inl ing facing, the bending thereof in forming the le'c pr s a cy nca an die 13 and a cylindrical forming die 14 and as shoulder causes aslight breaking and fraying here shown, the top inner edge of theforming of the ilbres at the bend and that these bres, die is providedwith notches 14 spaced at ninety When the discs are Stacked engage theadjacent degreeintervals, the die shown in-Figures 2 and 3 35 discsurface with suilicient frictional effect to and in Figure 1 1n crosssection being the die a, impair the feeding operation. In order to over-Figure 10, come this objectionable feature, I provide the The bed isprovided with bores concentric with diSCS, acCording t0 the presentinvention, with the dies and extending through the bores andprotuberances in such manner that the prointo the severaldies are ytheupwardly spring 40 tuberances of no two adjacent discs can come pressed`and reciprocable ejecting plungers 15. completely into register and evenspacing of all` Guided in the frame 16 for reciprocation at the discs isthereby secured.' The provision of right angles to the bed is a head 1'7in which are these protuberances and the proper stacking of mounted theusual cutting punches 18 and formthe discs to assure that no two discswith simiing punches 19, the former being adapted to colarly spacedprotuberances shall be adjacent, operate with the dies 13 and the latterwith the gives rise to certain problems with the solution of dies 14. Astripper plate 20 is spaced a suitable which the present invention isalso concerned. distance above bed 12 and provided with aper- With thisgeneral introduction, I shall proceed tures through which the stampedblanks may'be to describe the invention with reference to the ejected.The stripper plate is continued beyond accompanying drawings which areillustrative, the lower edge of the bed and at its extremity but by nomeans restrictive, thereof. supports brackets 21 upon which is mounted aIn the drawings, plate or trough 22 which supports the upper run Figurel is a cross section through a multiple of a conveyor belt 23, theconveyor being coexten- 55 sive with the bed and including head and footpulleys 24 and 25, Figure 10, the former of which may be driven from anysuitable means and at a speed related to the speed of operation of thepunching mechanism. Preferably the head pulley is driven throughsuitable gearing from a rotary shaft of the punching mechanism.

An apron 26 is spaced below the projecting portion of the stripper plate20 and forms with the latter a guide through which sheet material is fedto the stamping apparatus. An inclined apron 27 is arranged to guide thestamped closures to the conveyor 23.

In the operation of the apparatus, a sheet of material being fed to thepunching apparatus, head l'l descends and the cutting punches 18 incooperation with the dies 13, cut out discs whose marginal portionsoverlie dies 14 and are' gripped between the top surfaces of the latterand the lower ends of the cutting punches. Hereupon the forming punches19 are moved relative to the cutting punches and within the upper endsof the forming dies a limited distance so that the central portions ofthe discs are downwardly off-set relative to their marginal portions andthe disc metal is drawn into the notches 14', corresponding indentationsbeing formed on the opposite side of the discs. Since the die 14 hasfour notches 14'. the disc produced thereby will have four protuberancesbridging the anglek between the marginal portion of the disc and itscentral portion and angularly spaced about the disc center. 'Ihesheet isfed with its fibrous facing up so that the protuberances are on themetal faces of the blanks.

Theblanksfrom diesatoeand a' toe' areall ejected simultaneously andordinarily pass to the conveyor 23 in the order a, a', b, b', etc., dueto the staggered relation of the dies of the two rows. According to theinvention, no two successive discs will have the same arrangement ofprotuberances so that since the discs are intended to be stacked in theorder in which they reach the conveyor 23, the protuberances of no twoadjacent discs can completely register and the discs will therefore beheld in spaced relation by the protuberances. Theoretically, it willsuillce if all of the discs produced by punches a to e had the samearrangement of protuberances and if the discs produced by punches a' toe' had, as among themselves, the same arrangement of protuberances butan arrangement different from that of discs a to e. However, in order tobe on the safe side, it is preferred that each disc have an arrangementof protuberances dierent from that of all the other discs. Thus; asshown in Figure 10. each die has a different arrangement of notches,this arrangement by way of illustration, being as follows:

Die No. Notches Spacing-degrees warmem.

anblalhihblllh It is, of course, desirable and essential, unless all thediscs of each series have differently spaced protuberances, to runconveyor 23 at such a speed relative to the stamping apparatus that thediscs formed in any one operation will reach the conveyor 23 only afterthe discs of the previous operation have been moved out of the way.'I'hat is to say, the disc formed in one operation 'by the die e' shouldbe moved by the conveyor 23 beyond the position of the dlsc formed bythe die a in the succeeding operation before the latter disc reaches theconveyor. Any suitable drive means are therefore provided to enable theconveyor 23 to be driven at a speed` related to the speed of operationof the stamping apparatus to the end that there shall be no overlappingon conveyor 23 of discs produced by successive operations.

'I'he disc produced -by die a is shown in Figures 4, 5, and 6, referencenumeral 28 designating a lamination of ductile metal and 29 a laminationof fibrous material such as paper butter chip, or the like. The discconstituted by these laminations, while substantially flat, has amarginal portion 30 from which is upwardly onset slightly a centralportion 3l, an annular shoulder 32 joining the two portions. At fourpoints spaced at ninety degrees, the angle between the shoulder 32 andmarginal portion 30 of the disc is bridged by protuberances 33. Eachprotuberance is substantially angular in cross section, that is, in aplane passing therethrough at right angles to the sectional plane ofFigure 6 and the ridge line of each protuberance is substantiallyrectilinear. as shown in Figure 6 and extends between the shoulder andthe flat marginal portion of the closure member. 'Ihis disposition ofprotuberances is preferred, although not essential, since uponapplication of the disc to the beaded mouth of the container in themanner described in my above mentioned application, the protuberances donot interfere with the capping operation and are, moreover, drawn outduring the capping operation, disappearing so that smooth conformationof the disc margin to the upper external surface of the bead is secured.

In Figure 7, two stacked discs 34 and 35 are shown, the protuberance 34'of disc 34 being considered to be somewhat behind the protuberance 35'of disc 35 so that an unmutilated or undistorted portion of the annularedge 36 contacts with the protuberances 35' to maintain the discs inproperly spaced relation. It is at this edge 36 that the somewhat brokencondition of the fibres. above referred to, occurs.

It will be noted that preferably the height, or at least the effectiveheight, of the protuberances is less than the height of the centraloffset portion of the disc. As can be seen from Figure 7, the result isthat while the discs are spaced apart, their onset portions are stillsomewhat nested.

In Figure 11, reference numeral 37 designates a tubular container orpackage receiving a considerable number of discs, generally designatedat 38, in stacked relation, uniform spacing of the discs beingmaintained by their protuberances. It will be understood that with theprotuberances of each disc differently spaced from those of the adjacentdisc or discs, one protuberance of one disc may register with anindentation of the superposed disc but the remaining protuberances ofsaid one disc will serve to maintain the spacing of the discs.Preferably the spacing of the protuberances is such that each disc issupported by the subjacent disc against tilting.

Referring to Figures 8 and 9, conveyor 23 delivers to stacking mechanism39 by means of a chute 40. 'I'he stacking mechanism comprises a pair ofoppositely threaded and inwardly rotating screws 41 and 42 xed onsuitably j ournaled shafts 43 and 44, the shafts having fixed theretoworm wheels 45 and 46 engaged by worms 4'? and 48 xed on a suitsmyjornaled shaft 49. snm 49 has a pulley 50 fixed on one end thereof andconnected through a drive belt 51 with a motor pulley 52. In

the woll known manner, discs falling from chute l 40 have their edgesgripped by the threads of screws 41 and 42 and are advanced into a.triangular stacking trough 53 at the delivery end of the screws, thediscs being taken from the trough for packaging in the manner shown inFigure 11.

It will be understood that the invention is not necessarily limited asto the form of cap to which it is applicable nor to the manner oftreatment of the cap to secure the spacing means. Obviously theinvention is not limited as to the apparatus used in carrying it out. Ido not limit myself in any o! these respects except as determined in thfollowing claim.

I claim:

A container closure in the form of a substantially nat ductile dischaving a substantially at marginal portion and a portion offset to forman annular shoulder portion inwardly oi' said marginal portion, theangle between said marginal portion and shoulder portion being bridgedat widelyspaced intervals around the shoulder portion by protuberanceshaving substantially straight ridge lines extending between the shoulderportion and marginal portion, said protuberances serving to prevent fullnesting of the closure with a similar closure.

. GEORGE W. BOOTH.

